Evaluation of Foot and Ankle Trauma Registering to Emergency Department

Abstract

Introduction: One of the most common post-traumatic injuries and pain areas in the community is the distal lower extremity. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the demographic data and injured tissue of the patients who applied to the emergency department with foot and ankle injuries and to reveal the relationship between them.
 Materials and Methods: This study was conducted by retrospectively evaluating the data of the patients who applied to the emergency department of a tertiary hospital during the two-month period between 01.01.2019 and 28.02.2019. Files of patients with foot and ankle injuries were reviewed retrospectively using the hospital computer-based data system. In order to determine foot and ankle injuries, patients who had short leg splints were identified and included in the study using the hospital computer-based data system. The fractured bones were grouped as tibia, fibula, talus, calcaneus, cuboid bone, navicular bone, cuneiform bone and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th metatarsal bones and proximal phalanx. Trauma mechanisms were grouped as falling from height, falling from the same level, beating, sports injury, traffic accident and sprain.
 Results: Of the 133 patients included in the study, 68 (51.1%) were female. The age ranged between 1 and 78 years, with a median of 28. The most common bone fracture was the fibula (42.9%). As the cases were evaluated according to the trauma mechanisms, falling from a height 5 (3.8%), falling on the same level 79 (59.4%), beating 4 (3%), sports injury 3 (2.3%), traffic accident 2 (1.5%) and sprain was 40 (30.1%). As the injuries are evaluated; there was one bone fracture in 118 (88.7%) cases, and more than three bone fractures in 15 (11.3%) cases. As the relationship between fractured bone and age was evaluated, it was observed that there was a statistically significant relationship between the calcaneus, first metatarsal and fifth metatarsal (Mann-Whitney U test, for calcaneus p: 0.003, for 1st metatarsal bone p